Cane River [Hardcover]

 

 

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Grand Central Publishing | April 1, 2002 | Trade Paperback | ISBN 0-446-67845-7

Story Description:

Lalita Tademy was a successful corporate vice president at a Fortune 500 company when she decided to embark upon what would become an obsessive odyssey to uncover her family's past. Through exhaustive research, interviews, and the help of professional genealogists, she would find herself transported back to the early 1800s, to an isolated, close-knit rural community on Louisiana's Cane River. Here, Tademy takes historical fact and mingles it with fiction to weave a vivid and dramatic account of what life was like for the four remarkable women who came before her. Beginning with Tademy's great-great-great-great grandmother Elisabeth, this is a family saga that sweeps from the early days of slavery through the Civil War into a pre-Civil Rights South's unique and moving slice of Americas past that will resonate with readers for generations to come. Well-researched and powerfully written, Cane River is just the kind of family portrait that will appeal to the same diverse audience as Alex Haley's bestselling phenomenon Roots (Dell Books, reissue 1980) and the New York Times bestseller Sally Heming's (Buccaneer Books, 1992), which sold over one million hardcover copies and inspired the feature film Jefferson in Paris, starring Nick Nolte and Thandie Newton.

My Review:

CANE RIVER covers 137 years of Lalita Tademy's family's history, written as fiction, but deeply rooted in years of research historical fact, and family lore. It is a family saga that covers four generations of women born into slavery and searching for freedom. Every time I read a story like this I am utterly outraged at the treatment that these people endured.

The story is set on Rosedew Plantation on the Cane River in Louisiana. The book traces the lives of four women: Elizabeth and her daughter Suzette; Suzette's daughter, Philomene; and Philomene's daughter, Emily. All four of these women had their children by white plantation owners, sometimes by choice, other times by force. However, each woman grew stronger through their experiences. The one that seemed to resonate the most with me was, Philomene.

Philomene, at age 17 had lost her two baby daughters to yellow fever and her husband, Clement, had been sold to another plantation owner in Virginia far from Cane River. Her mother, Suzette, had also been sent to another plantation. Philomene loved Clement, they had a beautiful wedding and two beautiful girls together.

Philomene had stopped talking, stopped singing, and even stopped humming. Everything that was dear to her had died or been taken away. How sad that at the young age of 17 so much pain was a daily part of this girls life. She herself said that she felt: "...used up". Her days were drab and hard, and her nights were full to bursting with the silent grief that her isolation nourished. Loneliness had become an ugly, open sore that festered instead of healing over. She drifted on the edge of nothingness from day to day. Her deep grief was all consuming and she missed Clement so much, they went together like bread and butter and without him, a part of herself was missing. She was barren and empty, pretending to be human, imitating the things she had done before, long ago. Each morning when she awoke she was surprised that she hadn't died of aloneness in the night before. For Philomene, this was the face of slavery. To have nothing, and still have something more to lose.

CANE RIVER was a riveting read and one I will surely tell friends about.

"Cane River" covers four generations of women and is without question one of the best family sagas ever written. Born into slavery and searching for freedom, the events will break your heart yet instill a great appreciation for the value of life we have achieved today. Regardless of one's culture or ethnic backbround, the love, courage and determination shown throughout this book will stay with you.

The book is comparable to Alex Haley's "Roots", which is also highly recommended. Yes, "Roots" is lengthy and an older book, but there are few authors today who can write on the subject of slavery and leave such an emotional impact on the reader. Both books are well worth the read.

Although it broke my heart many times over, I enjoyed listening to the abridged audiobook version of this story that spans several generations of African American women, beginning during pre-Civil War times and ending in the early 20th century. I was easily able to put myself in their place and feel outrage at their unfair treatment, but as with the characters in the story, it was an impotent outrage at best. I didn't even have the satisfaction of seeing anything resembling justice done in the end, outside of Philamene's psychic "glimpsing" of a better future for her descendants.

I vacillated between giving this 3 stars or 4, and definitely would have given it at least 4 stars if the ending had turned out better. But it was still a story worth listening to.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome story for first-time author
I had heard of Cane River for several years before I finally read it, and I was so glad I did. The beginning was slow going (for me), because I've read many stories about slavery... Read more

Published on July 3 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartwarming and moving story of survival...
Lalita Tademy has woven together a moving and heartwarming tale in her first novel, Cane River. Chosen for Oprah's Book Club, Tademy uses the skeleton of her family tree as the... Read more

Published on Jun 25 2004 by Cynthia K. Robertson

4.0 out of 5 stars Come Meet the Remarkable Women of Cane River!
This is quite a touching story. The author, Lalita Tadema, embarked on a journey to uncover the story about her family history. Read more

Published on Jun 3 2004 by S. Schwartz

3.0 out of 5 stars My opinion of Cane River
I do not know why, but I could not really get into this book. I usually enjoy narratives such as this, but I just could not enjoy it to the fullest. Read more

Published on April 25 2004 by LoVe2ReAd

5.0 out of 5 stars Poignant story
Impressive debut novel spanning the history of five generations. From the plantation to freedom, the story is overflowing with tales and rich descriptions of the times. Read more

Published on Mar 29 2004 by Patty Philbrook

5.0 out of 5 stars Creole family history thru 5 generations
Cane River begins with Suzette, daughter of Elizabeth, a house slave belonging to a Creole cotton planter family. Read more

Published on Mar 8 2004 by Peggy Vincent

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Family History
Cane River was recommended to me, and I read it not really knowing what to expect. It turned out that I could not put it down. The story was incredible. Read more

Published on Jan 22 2004 by iplaykeez

5.0 out of 5 stars The second book of my life that made my heart cry...
Lalita Tademy said that her ancestors forced her to write this book, especially Philomene, and surely they did. Read more

Published on Jan 11 2004 by Christina Donoghue

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring!!
I read this book in two days. Lalita took the lives of four powerful women in her family and wove them into a beautiful tapestry. Read more

Published on Jan 10 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Writing your own genealogy
I've never been interested in genealogy because I thought it was merely names and dates. However, Tademy has taken the factual information she found on her family and woven a... Read more

Published on Jan 6 2004

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